California Pizza Kitchen at Ka Makana Ali’i — Restaurant in Oʻahu

Well, let me start by saying that my recent visit to the Kapolei California Pizza Kitchen was truly an adventure I didn't expect! I placed an online order for my daughter and myself, and things started off on a bit of a "flip side."

When I arrived for pickup at 6:08 pm (a whopping 5 minutes past my designated 6:03 pm pickup time), I was greeted by the ever-friendly M**. She informed me that my daughter's pizza was taking a little detour from the oven's conveyor belt, but she assured me it wouldn't be long. So, I plopped down, facing the kitchen, ready for some pizza gazing.

Now, let me paint the scene for you - there was another employee, let's call her Nes, who seemed to be channeling her inner pizza acrobat. I mean, I thought I was watching a pizza-themed magic show! She tossed a pizza onto the counter with all the flair of a frustrated pizza-throwing champion, but the poor pizza apparently missed the memo about its landing. Down it went, upside-down on the floor! Without missing a beat, Nes retrieved the pizza, gave it a "Hey, you're back!" toss onto the counter, and well, let's just say it's the first time I've seen a pizza stuck in an unexpected handstand.

Now, dear readers, you might be wondering, "Did anyone notice the gravity-defying pizza?" Well, rest assured, our hero M** was on the case! She swooped in like a pizza-savior, discovered the acrobatics, and realized that the upside-down daredevil was, in fact, my order. Yikes! At that point, I just couldn't resist - I had to ask for the name of our pizza performer, Nes.

This whole experience left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I appreciate the transparency of the process - who knew pizza tossing was a legitimate Olympic sport? On the other hand, I must admit, the mental image of that pizza doing a somersault makes me wonder about the hidden talents of the kitchen staff. And just as I watched my dinner defy gravity, I can't help but wonder what other tricks might be going on behind the scenes.

All joking aside, my trust in the culinary prowess at this CPK has been a little shaken, but I do hope this little pizza mishap is a one-time event. Kudos to M** for being a pizza vigilante and handling the situation with grace. As for Nes, well, I'm sure she's an expert in high-flying dough theatrics now. Who knows, maybe they can start a new show - "CPK's Got Talent: The Pizza Edition."

In the end, while I've had plenty of positive experiences at this CPK in the past, this visit was certainly one for the books. I'll keep my fingers crossed that future visits involve fewer gravity-defying pizza performances and more of the deliciousness I've come to...

Worked there one day as a pantry cook and quit after going to three interviews... the last of which the general manager compared himself to "Simon Cow from American Idol going out on a limb" As someone who has suffered from allergies my whole life, I discourage anyone from eating here if you have an allergy to peanuts (they keep the container of peanuts next to all the other salad ingredients for easy access when making the salads and I found a peanut in the ready-to-serve diced jicama container. The cooking staff don't wear gloves half the time and when they do they dont change them frequently to avoid cross-contamination. (Example - measuring out a portion of chicken and then reaching into one of the containers that hold vegetables or fruit) The container that the raw chicken is in is placed on the floor in front of the grill before grilling. Pasta cook never wore gloves and was on his phone every chance he got...guess he is unaware of how notoriously filthy phones are. Never saw any of the employees wash their hands and they worked me 7.5 hours without a single break. I saw a cockroach crawling on the wall in front of the general manager when they gave me the test to see if I could properly use a knife. He either pretended not to see it or was ignorant of its existence. The grilled chicken was placed in a metal container on the grill for several hours (after the grill was turned off) until someone ordered an item with grilled chicken.. This place has so many health code violations it needs to be under new management or shut down completely so people dont get sick or die from anaphylactic shock.

P.S. - To the owner who tells everyone that leaves a bad review to share their experience on a different website, don't do it to my review. You are the owner. Handle your business as any eithical, responsible manager should. You don't need a special platform to address this serious issue. This is the platform I choose to use to help ensure potential customers make an informed decision. Fix the problem instead of brushing it...

Maybe it was just the night, I will never truly know. When we arrived we were told there would be a 45 minute wait, which by all means is alright. An hour passed and the hostess nonchalantly informed my husband that it would be another 30 minutes. By then, my kids were exhausted and acting out because they were hungry... Nearly 40 minutes after she informed my husband that it’d still be a while longer, after the initial time quote I went up to ask about how much longer it would take. We were seated immediately after. The bread we received was hard and must’ve been old... I kindly ask for more bread, and the waitress just laughed at me. I didn’t think I was being funny, I was genuine. We also were skimped on the oil and herbs, got half the the usual amount. I asked for more bread in general to keep the kids happy, which of course while waiting on the food my middle child nearly had a meltdown since he didn’t have anything to snack on slowly. We do visit the CPK food chain often, as we love the pizza and the dessert. My drink was only refilled once, after it had been empty for 10 or more minutes. Which made me lose my appetite and I ended up not even ordering dessert because the mood was ruined. The waitress also didn’t ask my husband if he wanted another drink after his one bottled beer. We are easy to please and honestly do not ask for much. My husband are HIGH tippers, that base the tip off of the service received. Doesn’t mean the waitress didn’t get a decent tip, by all means it was over 17 dollars. BUT, it would’ve been higher had we been properly served upon and not left thirsty and without more bread. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Pretty disappointed in tonight’s service and experience, not sure if I would want to visit this specific...